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 Previous: Surfin': Weekend Update |  Next: Well-Known Vintage Radio Authority William E. Denk, W3IGU, SK |
By Joe Moell, K0OV
ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding Coordinator
Contributing Editor
January 15, 2006
More hams than ever are discovering the fun of Amateur Radio direction finding (ARDF) contests. Did you and your club try it last year?
 Eric Rice, KG6SIH, of Northridge, California, tracks foxes with this dad Randy, WB6BXP, during the 2005 Catalina Amateur Repeater Association picnic. (Photo by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
Last month I told you how hams across the country are getting together for competitions that provide both physical and technical challenges. All-on-foot transmitter hunting under international rules--called foxtailing, radio-orienteering and ARDF--has gained steadily in popularity since its introduction to North America in the early 1990s.
ARDF activity is expanding every year and 2005 brought the sport to more places in the USA than ever. Southern California led in the number of informal ARDF sessions with at least one every month in parks ranging from under 60 acres to more than 1000 acres. Most of them featured a pair of five-fox 2-meter courses--one for complete beginners and one for advanced foxhunters. Usually one 80-meter transmitter also was on the air to give everyone an opportunity to try foxtailing on that band. For those without any RDF gear (yet), there were plenty of loaner antennas, attenuators and other equipment. Results and photos are on my Homing In Web site.
Our rain-or-shine policy was put to the test in January
when heavy showers drenched Schabarum Park in La Habra Heights, California, just at hunt start time. Only a couple of
intrepid hunters braved the downpour and the slippery trails, but they gained
experience in conditions similar to some multi-nation events, such as the 2000 World Championships in China.
For the less intrepid, there was a make-up session at the same park in March.
 Young Jered Garlitz, KE7DRC, hunts for a hidden transmitter at the 2005 Utah Hamfest and Rocky Mountain Division Convention. (Photo by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
 These hams are smiling after tracking down 2-meter and 80-meter foxes at a park near Dayton Hamvention: (L-R) James Sturtevant, KB1MJW (had just passed his test), Mike Cegelski, K8EHP, Mary Cegelski, KC8YLC, Bob Frey, WA6EZV, Dick Arnett, WB4SUV, Matthew Robbins, AA9YH, Ann Manor, KT8F, and Phil Manor, W8IC. (Photo by Paul Sturtevant, KA1CSU) |
 Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS (front), explains the details of constructing offset attenuators and measuring-tape Yagis at a 2005 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention workshop. (Photo by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
 Future ham? One of the dozens of Scouts who experienced ham radio foxhunting in a Long Beach, California park during Scout-O-Rama 2005. (Photo by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
 Dennis Schwendtner, WB6OBB (left), of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club and Marv Bassi, N6VJF, get bearings during a special transmitter hunt at Handi-Ham Radio Camp 2005 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Pat Tice, WA0TDA) |
 In September, Bob Cooley, KF6VSE (left), and Harley Leach, KI7XF, went to Japan and won gold in competition with some of the finest radio-orienteers of Asia. These shots are from their medal-winning performances at the 2005 USA ARDF Championships in Albuquerque. (Photos by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
Hamfest Hunts
Along with transformer tosses and QLF (sending Morse code with one's left foot) contests, many hamfests and conventions have begun staging on-foot transmitter hunts. At this year's Catalina Amateur Repeater Association picnic, there were five of my foxboxes in Heritage Park. In addition, there was the hidden "T" for the mobile hunt of South Orange Amateur Radio Association, courtesy of that day's huntmaster Dave Seroski, KG6QCI. CARA picnickers watched and joined in as cars full of SOARA hunters arrived and tried to find them all. (We told them that they couldn't get their free burgers until they did!)
In late July, I had a great time at the Utah Hamfest and ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention near Bryce Canyon. My talk was about hams around the country who are traveling the world in search of ARDF medals. Mike Collett, K7DOU, and I showed them some easy-to-build RDF gear.
Utah Hamfest Huntmaster Larry Benson, N7GY, staged three on-foot foxhunts of varying difficulty on the spacious grounds of Ruby's Inn. The first had only one fox only a few dozen yards away, just to give everyone the idea and to help them check their gear. The next day there was a two-transmitter hunt, followed later by a five-fox hunt with timing that was intended to simulate international ARDF rules.
Attendance was good at the annual two-hour Foxhunt Forum at Dayton Hamvention® moderated by Dick Arnett, WB4SUV, Bob Frey, WA6EZV, and Brian DeYoung, K4BRI. It was followed by a demonstration event in a local park with two 2-meter and two 80-meter foxes.
RDF was high-profile at the ARRL Southwestern Division convention in Riverside, California, the weekend after Labor Day. In addition to separate talks about competitive ARDF by Jay Thompson, W6JAY, and myself, there were two hands-on equipment workshops organized by Marvin Johnston, KE6HTS. He brought plenty of kits for measuring-tape Yagis and offset attenuators. Soldering irons, sandpaper and tools were at the ready, so attendees could complete their gear and be all set to hunt VHF radio foxes right away.
Orange Section Technical Coordinator Jim Eason, AD6IJ, put on the official transmitter hunt. A 2-meter rig in an ammunition box was concealed in bushes on the Convention Center grounds. The winner was Trey Barton, KG6ZOE, a high school student from Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Youth Magnet
Hidden transmitter hunting is a great way to attract young people to Amateur Radio. They don't need either a radio or a driver's license to go out on their own to find foxes on foot. Scouting's Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) weekend each October is an ideal opportunity. Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club members included it as part of a weekend-long JOTA campout near Solvang, California. Scouts learned the basics at the campsite by tracking a couple of radio foxes under the guidance of experts. Then they set out into the woods on their own in teams of two or three. The goal was to find out which team would be fastest at locating three mini-transmitters that cycled at one-minute intervals on the same 2-meter frequency.
Scouting presents other opportunities for foxhunting demonstrations. For the third year, members of the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach (ARALB) organized a ham radio activity center at a Scout-O-Rama during June. Besides tracking hidden transmitters with borrowed equipment, the Scouts could QSO ARALB members on the air and pass simulated emergency messages at a separate station set up by the Orange County Hospital Disaster Support Communications System.
Members of the Catalina Amateur Repeater Association (CARA) and the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC) brought foxhunting fun to participants in Radio Camp 2005 in Malibu, California, sponsored by the Courage Handi-Ham System. Many of the campers were visually impaired, so the SBARC hams brought special "sound controls" with both 2-meter transmitters and audible beepers that could be heard within about 15 feet. Campers used RDF to get close and then used sound for the final find.
USA Takes Gold!
ARDF committees of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) schedule world championships in even-numbered years. In odd-numbered years, the three IARU regional organizations are encouraged to hold formal competitions. While these are primarily for residents of countries within the respective IARU regions, these can include visitors from other regions.
Practice paid off for two USA radio-orienteers as they triumphed at the 2005 IARU Region 3 (Asia/Oceania) ARDF Championships near Niigata, Japan. In the 80-meter competition on September 21, Harley Leach, KI7XF, of Bozeman, Montana won the gold medal in M60 Category (males over age 60). He finished ahead of competitors from Russia and Japan, and was the only M60 to find all three required transmitters within the time limit. In the September 23 2-meter competition, Bob Cooley, KF6VSE, of Pleasanton, California captured the M60 gold, finishing four minutes ahead of silver medallist JE1XXK of Japan.
KF6VSE also traveled to the 2005 IARU Region 1 (Europe/Africa) ARDF Championships in Tara/Zlatibor, Serbia and Montenegro. On September 5 in the 2-meter competition, he finished 16th out of 27 competitors in M60. In the 80-meter competition two days later, he moved up to 12th in his category.
The Third IARU Region 2 (North and South America) ARDF Championships were hosted in New Mexico by the Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club (AARC) during the first week of August. This was also the fifth annual USA ARDF Championships. Radio-orienteers from eleven states and three countries (Australia, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan) took to the separate courses on 2 meters and 80 meters. They ranged in age from 13 to 63.
There was friendly rivalry among the nine competitors from California and the five who train together in southern Ohio, southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky. This year, Team OH-KY-IN garnered three gold, eight silver and five bronze medals. The Californians went home with five gold, five silver and eight bronze.
The 2005 Texas state ARDF Championships took place Sunday, October 23. The site was Bastrop State Park, a pine forest environment east of Austin and west of Houston. This was a 2-meter only competition, mixed in with an O-meet of the Houston Orienteering Club.
With all the good news, there was also some bad: Long-time
foxhunter and tireless promoter John Munsey, KB3GK, succumbed to heart disease
on October 7. He had worked very hard to promote both mobile and on-foot
transmitter hunting in Daytona Beach and elsewhere in Florida. John competed at
the 2002 USA ARDF
Championships in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Even with his cardiac
problems, he got from start to finish and took home medals.
 John Munsey, KB3GK (now SK), approaches the finish line in the 80-meter event of the 2002 USA ARDF Championships. He was a long-time proponent of mobile and on-foot transmitter hunting in northern Florida. (Photo by Joe Moell, K0OV) |
From the Tech Bench
Most ARDF enthusiasts are also builders--in part because there is little commercially available on-foot RDF equipment from US sources. Foxhunting on 80 meters got a boost with publication of a simple and effective ARDF receiver/antenna project in September 2005 QST, designed by Dale Hunt, WB6BYU, of Yamhill, Oregon.
Some of the most advanced ARDF experimenters are in Albuquerque, where a group led by Jerry Boyd, WB8WFK, and Mike Pendley, K5ATM, unveiled a software-defined ARDF transmitter at the 2005 USA/Region 2 Championships. It generates AM or FM signals on 2 meters as well as keyed CW on 80 meters with timing per IARU rules. Among its novel features are provisions for a data stream and an emergency mode for signaling by foxhunters in distress.
Will 2006 surpass 2005 in ARDF activity? It could happen with the Sixth USA ARDF Championships taking place April 7 through 9, followed by selection of ARDF Team USA members who will travel to the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria for the 13th ARDF World Championships during the week of September 12. Perhaps a team of stateside radio-orienteers under age 16 will form for the IARU Region 1 Youth ARDF Championships, July 13 through 16 in Poland. More about these events will be in future ARDF Updates.
A tip of the hat to the hams mentioned above and all the others who are helping to spread the word about the fun of foxhunting. As you plan transmitter hunts for 2006, be sure to inform your ARRL section and division leaders well in advance. Ask them to help get the word out to hams in their jurisdictions. Perhaps they will even attend and participate! Also invite and include Technical Coordinators, Official Observers, search/rescue unit members and any others who might benefit from better RDF skills. And be sure to send me news and photos of ARDF events.
Editor's Note: ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, had a busy year visiting and photographing ARDF events, as well as organizing some. He would like to attend and report on your local foxhunts, too. His Homing In Web site has information to help you and your club get started. He welcomes your inquiries and hunt reports via e-mail.
| Previous: Surfin': Weekend Update | Next: Well-Known Vintage Radio Authority William E. Denk, W3IGU, SK |
